Short-Term Visual Deprivation Improves the Perception of Harmonicity

Neuroimaging studies have shown that the perception of auditory stimuli involves occipital cortical regions traditionally associated with visual processing, even in the absence of any overt visual component to the task. Analogous behavioral evidence of an interaction between visual and auditory processing during purely auditory tasks comes from studies of short-term visual deprivation on the perception of auditory cues, however, the results of such studies remain equivocal. Although some data have suggested that visual deprivation significantly increases loudness and pitch discrimination and reduces spatial localization inaccuracies, it is still unclear whether such improvement extends to the perception of spectrally complex cues, such as those involved in speech and music perception. We present data demonstrating that a 90-min period of visual deprivation causes a transient improvement in the perception of harmonicity: a spectrally complex cue that plays a key role in music and speech perception. The results provide clear behavioral evidence supporting a role for the visual system in the processing of complex auditory stimuli, even in the absence of any visual component to the task.